GRAHAM RAHAL, No. 15 Rousseau Metal Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “P2 and P4 in both sessions, Takuma and I swapped positions, but ultimately it doesn’t matter. I think we put a good product on the track right off the trailer and I’m proud of everybody for working hard and making it happen with the No. 15 Rousseau Honda. So tonight we don’t need to reinvent the wheel. Let’s go out and try to find a little bit more. I mean I’m fourth and I’m less than two-hundredths off Takuma in seconds so it’s going to just be a typical INDYCAR qualifying session.”

FAST FACTS: Will be his 13th Indy car race here and 14th overall including his 2006 Atlantic race… In 12 Indy car races, his best Toronto start is second last year and his best finish is fifth in 2010 with Newman/Haas Racing. He has three, top-five starts and four, top-10 finishes… His highest start of the season is fifth at Long Beach and his highest finish is second in St. Pete… Has SIX IndyCar Series wins (2008 – St. Pete street course; 2015 – Fontana Super Speedway, Mid-Ohio road course; 2016 – Texas Super Speedway; 2017 Detroit Race 1, Detroit Race 2) and THREE poles (2009 – St. Pete street course, Kansas oval; 2017 – Detroit Race 1 street) and his highest series season-ending standing is fourth place in 2015. He is currently ranked fourth in 2018 Verizon IndyCar Series standings with 63 points…Rahal is tied for sixth in series point standings with a total of 304.

TAKUMA SATO, No. 30 Mi-Jack / Panasonic Dallara/Honda/Firestone: “I think it was a very positive day. The car works pretty well really out of the box. The philosophy took over from last year’s generic RLL setup, and obviously, we built on it for the 2018 kit based on the reduction of aero. I feel positive. There was grip right away. The Firestone tire is very similar to last year. The compound might be a bit different, but it felt the same for me. I had good grip and it seems like the working range is a bit wider. The track change that Toronto has made is a significant difference. The main straight is a lot less bumpy and very comfortable for the drivers. It’s all safer because there is less bottoming and less locking. It’s an impressive job that they’ve done. The entire lap, I was really happy from Practice 1 to Practice 2. In Practice 2, it was much more to my liking and the lap times are very close. But it’s nice to be ahead.”

FAST FACTS: Will be his 11th race here. In his 10 previous races, his best start is eighth in 2015 and his best finish is fifth in 2016 and Race 2 in 2014 – all with A.J. Foyt Racing. He has four top-10 finishes… He has finished no lower than seventh place in four of the last five races dating back to fifth place in Dual 1 of Detroit and finished the past two races fourth (Road America) and third (Iowa Speedway)… His highest start of the season is fifth at St. Pete and his highest finish is third at Iowa… Has TWO IndyCar Series wins (2013 – Long Beach street course, 2017 – Indy 500 oval) and SEVEN poles (2011 Iowa oval, Edmonton street; 2013 Houston Race 1 street; 2014 St. Pete street, Detroit Race 2 street; 2017 Detroit Race 2, Pocono oval)…He moved from 13th to 12th in series point standings with 237 after Iowa.

RLL AT TORONTO: The Honda Indy Toronto will mark the 19th year of Indy car racing for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing (RLLR) here. The team also competed in the Atlantic Series races here in 2003 and 2004. The team earned a total of four second place finishes (Rahal 1992, 1994, 1995; Michel Jourdain Jr. 2003) and best start was pole in 1992 by Bobby Rahal. Prior to the 2018 event, the team prepared a total of 31 Indy car entries for drivers Bobby Rahal (1992-98), Mike Groff (1994), Raul Boesel (1995), Bryan Herta (1996-99), Max Papis (1999-2001), Jimmy Vasser (2002), Michel Jourdain Jr. (2002-03), Takuma Sato (2012), Graham Rahal (2013 x 2; 2014 x2; 2015-2017), James Jakes (2013 x 2) and Luca Filippi (2014 x2). The team also prepared three Toyota Atlantic entries (Danica Patrick 2003-2004; Chris Festa 2004).The team has earned FIVE podiums (3rd – Rahal 1996), 9 top-five’s and 19 top-10 finishes at the track. The No. 15 Rousseau Metal entry for Graham Rahal and the No. 30 Mi-Jack / Panasonic entry for Takuma Sato will bring the Indy car total to 33 entries in 2018.

NEXT UP: Practice 3 will take place tomorrow from 9:50-10:35 a.m. ET and qualifying will begin at 1:55 and will be televised on a tape-delayed basis on NBCSN beginning at 5 p.m. ET. Streaming video and Timing and Scoring information is available for all practice sessions from www.indycar.com and includes commentary by the INDYCAR Radio Network. Timing and Scoring information for qualifying is also available live with commentary.